Newswise — COLLEGE STATION — The Dinner Tonight! program of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service has been enhanced and expanded, and its administrators have chosen March, which is National Nutrition Month, to announce program improvements.
“National Nutrition Month provided a perfect opportunity for us to announce a number of enhancements to our Dinner Tonight! program, which was created to provide busy families with quick, healthy, cost effective recipes to make and serve at home,” said Dr. Susan Ballabina, AgriLife Extension associate director for program development, College Station.
National Nutrition Month is a nutrition education and information initiative of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to help people learn the importance of making informed food choices and developing habits related to eating and physical activity.
Ballabina said the eat-at-home aspect of Dinner Tonight! reinforces research, which shows children who sit down to regular family meals consume more fruits, vegetables and fiber, as well as tend to perform better academically.
The Dinner Tonight! program was developed by AgriLife Extension agents statewide with the knowledge and expertise needed to provide quick, nutritious, cost-effective recipes to consumers through weekly video cooking webcasts and other web-based methods, as well as healthy cooking schools.
In 2014 there were 18,690 unique visitors from over 50 different countries and territories to the Dinner Tonight! website, Ballabina said. There were also 1,930 people following Dinner Tonight! on Facebook. And 26 Dinner Tonight! Healthy Cooking Schools were conducted, reaching more than 2,000 people.
“Now that we have established a solid framework for the program, we are expanding our efforts toward an even greater level of service and outreach to residents of the state,” she said.
Ballabina said having recently celebrated the centennial anniversary of the legislation creating the national Cooperative Extension System, the leadership of AgriLife Extension wanted to ensure the introductory videos of the revamped program served the agency’s mission of research, teaching and educational outreach to improve the quality of life for Texans. To support this effort, Texas A&M University interim president Mark Hussey and his wife Melissa made the president’s home available for a Dinner Tonight! filming.
To help direct the program’s evolution, Jessica Theimer, a registered and licensed dietician, has been hired as the new program coordinator for Dinner Tonight! Under Theimer’s direction, the Dinner Tonight! website, http://dinnertonight.org, has been reworked and will feature recipes, cooking basics and nutritional information people can use in creating a healthy lifestyle.
“We’ll be offering more of the information and materials our users have come to know and appreciate,” Theimer said. “In addition to the weekly recipe and video, those who subscribe online will receive a second weekly helping of either a recipe or a brief tutorial on tips and techniques helpful to meal preparation. And special guests will also be featured in several of the videos each year.”
She said the program will continue to offer its popular local healthy cooking schools throughout the state.
“And this year, we will also host a ‘virtual healthy cooking school’ allowing people to gather in a location near them while joining individuals across the state.”
Theimer said the program expansion to social media accounts will be done in a staggered approach, and Twitter and Facebook interaction will be implemented with the March 2 launch. She added that she would also work on expanding community partnerships and finding additional opportunities for programming.
“We’ve had a very successful partnership with the Scott and White Health Plan as one of our main project partners,” said Julie Gardner, AgriLife Extension program specialist in community health, Gatesville.
Gardner said hundreds of people have attended healthy cooking schools in Llano and McLellan counties and additional schools are scheduled in Bell, Williamson and Brazos counties.
“We also have partnerships with Baylor University as well as and the culinary arts department at Texas State Technical College in Waco,” she noted.
Carrie Brazeal, AgriLife Extension family and consumer science agent in Collin County, said their office has already slated a Dinner Tonight! Healthy Cooking School for later this year.
“Since 2012, we’ve held two schools in Dallas plus a school last year in Frisco in cooperation with the Frisco ISD,” she said. “Our Master Wellness Program Volunteers do most of the work in planning these events, and we hope to hold even more cooking schools in the future. We’re also excited to boost program awareness using social media outreach and the updated website.”
Theimer will be scheduling personal appearances at Dinner Tonight! events across the state to introduce program enhancements and make participants aware of the wide array of program information and resources.
“All in all, through the Dinner Tonight! program we want people to feel more comfortable in their own kitchen and to know they can find the time to feed their family healthful, nutritious meals at home,” Theimer said.
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